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Ernie Els the main attraction for World Golf Hall of Fame induction

Golfer Ernie Els will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine. The Associated Press

South Africa is on top of the golfing world and this week is a celebration of that fact.

It starts tonight in St. Augustine when Ernie Els is inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, joining countrymen such as Gary Player and Bobby Locke. And it will continue this week at The Players Championship.

Tim Clark defends a PGA Tour title for the first time in his career and two of the last three major championship winners, Charl Schwartzel (Masters) and Louis Oosthuizen (British Open) will be among the top players at the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course.

"It's well-deserved ... Ernie is a global player and has won everywhere," said Player, the patriarch of South African golf. "This is a marvelous time for South African golf."

Els received 66 percent of the vote on the PGA Tour Ballot last year but it's been a foregone conclusion since he won his third major at the 2002 British Open. All that remained was for Els to turn the mandatory minimum age of 40 last year, and he was on the fast track to St. Augustine.

And three days after he's inducted, Els will make his 18th start in The Players Championship and become the 16th man to compete in The Players Championship after being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Els seemed stunned last year at the Tour Championship when his election was announced. But he's more than ready for the honor and see its as one more example of the impact South African golfers have made since the days of Locke and Player.

"Golf is South Africa is a big sport and a lot of guys have done well," Els said. "(Entering the Hall) is starting to get really exciting now."

And it didn't just start happening. Since Els won his first major in 1994, South Africans (Els, Schwartzel, Oosthuizen, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman) won have eight majors, tying Europe for second during that span behind the U.S. (40).

Among the South Africans in the Hall of Fame, only Player with worldwide victories in triple digits and nine major championships eclipses Els' record. Dubbed "The Big Easy" because of his effortless swing, Els began to impact the global golf scene in 1994 when he survived the heat and a three-way playoff with Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts to win the U.S. Open at Oakmont, at the age of 24.

Els later added the U.S. Open title at Congressional in 1997, again fending off Montgomerie. His Open championship at Muirfield also didn't come easy, as he survived a four-hole, four-way playoff that included Steve Elkington, Stuart Appleby and Thomas Levet.

Els won twice on the PGA Tour last year, including his second World Golf Championship, and has won 18 times on Tour. When Els won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March of 2010, it was his 50th worldwide victory.

Els has won tournaments in Europe, Asia, the U.S. and his native country. He also has been one of the bulwarks of the International team in the Presidents Cup. Later this year, Els will play on his seventh Presidents Cup team. He also has played on the Dunhill Cup nine times and the World Cup five times.

In the process, Els has become the mentor to younger South Africans such as Schwartzel and Oosthuizen that Player had been to him.

"Ernie has been a tremendous player for years and very good to those of us

coming up after him," Oosthuizen said. That's perhaps because Els doesn't forget those who came before him. In addition to the obvious impact that Player had, Els also listed Nick Price, a native of Zimbabwe, as one of the Hall of Fame players who mentored him and helped him see the value of being a "global player."

"Nick gave me a lot of great advice, not only in golf, but to myself and (Els' wife) Liezl. He was really important to me," Els said. "Pricey is a Zimbabwean but we'd like to claim him."

And to show how full circle golf can come, Els remembers the only time he met Locke, the putting savant who won four British Opens.

It was when Els was a boy and his mother took him to a clothing store to buy school attire. Els' mother recognized Locke and had to prod the shy youngster into approaching Locke.

"He was very gracious and very nice," Els remembered.

Those are attributes that have been used to describe Els during his career. He also is in the midst of a worldwide campaign to raise funds for an Autism Research Center near his Florida home in Jupiter. Ben, Els' son, was diagnosed with Autism after his birth in 2002.